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Barbarian Cavalry
|upkeep_cost = |num_figures = |moves = |melee = |defense = |resist = |hits = |abilities = First Strike Thrown 1 }} Barbarian Cavalry are a type of Normal Unit that can be recruited in Barbarian Towns containing at least a Barracks and a Stables. Cavalry are the basic mounted units in the game. Their higher speed allows them to perform quick strikes against infantry lines, flank them, or bypass them to attack the rear of an enemy army. The of Barbarians enhance Cavalry charges further, making voluntary attacks made by Barbarian Cavalry even deadlier than normal; and also enable them to engage opponents in close combat. They are not very well armored though, and need to keep the initiative if they want to survive in battle. Barbarian Cavalry have a Construction Cost of , and require an Upkeep Cost of and to maintain. Failure to pay these costs will result in the unit being disbanded automatically. Unit Properties Physical Description Barbarian Cavalry consists of a group of humanoids mounted on brown horses. Each Cavalryman has long brown hair, and is dressed in a leather vest and purple trousers. They fight with swords from horseback, but also carry throwing spears and axes to lob at enemies before charging into them. Barbarian Cavalry are a , containing up to mounted soldiers. Attack Properties Barbarian Cavalry possess a Melee Strength of , which has an average "raw" output of per Cavalryman. This is fairly decent against lighter armor, although it may not be enough to consistently hurt well-protected opponents. It does get better with however, both in strength and accuracy. At the level, the maximum normally attainable, Barbarian Cavalry will inflict twice this much - points of "raw" , on average, per . Normally, Melee Damage between two combatants is resolved simultaneously, but like many other mounted units, Barbarian Cavalry have the First Strike trait, representing their ability to charge or trample their opponents before they could fight back. This ability triggers whenever the unit performs a voluntary Melee Attack during its own turn, and results in enemy destroyed by the attack not being able to retaliate against the Barbarian Cavalry. In other words, the more the Cavalrymen do with an attack they initiate, the less they will take from the Counter Attack it triggers. First Strike does not work when the Cavalrymen are on the receiving end of a Melee Attack though. There are also a handful of infantry units with reach weapons that possess a counter ability called Negate First Strike, which nullifies this effect entirely when engaging them. Like most Barbarians, Barbarian Cavalry have a as well. Whenever they initiate a Melee Attack against an enemy unit, they will also precede the "mutual melee" with a short-range attack. This has an initial strength of only though, as indicated by the magnitude of the unit's Thrown ability. As a result, it only has a base 30% chance to yield any "raw" at all - which the opponent may then reduce through a Defense Roll. However, this attack has two advantages. First, it is also executed before the target could retaliate, which means that it can further reduce the amount of enemy that can strike back at the Barbarian Cavalry. Second, it allows the unit to engage opponents, which units without special abilities are normally incapable of. On the other hand, this Attack Type is limited to voluntary attacks as well - the Barbarians can't use it when Counter Attacking against an enemy assault. Defensive Properties Barbarian Cavalry are lightly armored, possessing a Defense score of . They can deflect about points from Conventional Damage attacks, on average. Unfortunately, this is rarely enough to avoid anything but the weakest attacks. On the other hand, they do have per rider, and if they can keep the initiative and attack only on their own terms, Barbarian Cavalry may be able to minimize the Melee Damage they take by virtue of their offensive abilities. Their Resistance score is not impressive though. Even with their racial bonus, they only have - barely enough for a fair chance at avoiding even the weakest Unit Curses and other ill effects. However, all three of these statistics do improve with . Other Properties Barbarian Cavalry are faster than most infantry units with their Movement Allowance of , and may use this to their advantage to maximize the effectiveness of their First Strike and . However, the unit otherwise has no special movement properties, and can only traverse land tiles on the overland map. Basic Strategy Although more expensive to train and maintain than the more common foot soldiers, Barbarian Cavalry offer some significant advantages compared to them. Overland, they are the only non-ship unit of the Barbarian Race that can move more than one tile per turn without magical assistance, which makes them their best Normal Unit for scouting and quick response. This can be important early in the campaign because Barbarians don't have Engineers, and thus can not build Roads of their own unless they either subjugate a Race that can recruit Engineers, or get an opportunity to hire some as Mercenaries. In battle, their faster movement allows Barbarian Cavalry to utilize the Race's signature more easily, while also enhancing their aspect of gaining a tactical advantage for initiating voluntary attacks through First Strike. This combination makes their charges deadlier than those of most other Cavalry, and can greatly increase their survivability on the condition that they keep the initiative and attack mostly on their own terms. The short-range attacks also enable them to engage opponents, which further improves their odds of being able to hit the enemy before it can fight back, although units tend to be fast themselves, so this often requires more careful positioning. On the other hand, like all mounted units, Barbarian Cavalry don't have as many as infantry units do. Although more powerful, they execute a lower number of attacks with each command given to them, which makes enhancement effects and somewhat less effective, since they grant a lower overall benefit. Each that a Barbarian Cavalry unit loses also has a higher impact on their total output. However, while they don't wear better , the Cavalrymen do have more than most foot soldiers, so they don't go down that easily. Regardless, pressing the attack is vital for their survival, since neither of their offensive abilities will trigger when they are being attacked by an enemy, which generally means that they will take much more in this case. This also makes them somewhat less useful in situations where they need to remain stationery, such as when defending a walled Town or protecting a line of Ranged Attack units from close combat opponents. Ability Overview First Strike * Whenever this unit makes a voluntary Melee Attack against an enemy target, it delivers its Melee Damage before the target does, as opposed to resolving it at the same time. Therefore, defending slain by this do not get to retaliate at the unit. * This ability does not work when the unit is Counter Attacking against an enemy assailant. Thrown 1 * Whenever this unit makes a voluntary Melee Attack against an enemy target, it also delivers a Thrown Attack with a base strength of per . * As a short-range attack, this is executed before the enemy gets a chance to retaliate. Any in the target unit that are killed by the attack do not get to deliver any Melee Damage. * This attack does not occur when the unit is Counter Attacking against an enemy assailant. However, it does enable its possessor to initiate Melee Attacks against units regardless of its own Movement Type. Experience Table The following table illustrates how Barbarian Cavalry improve with Experience. Any properties that are not listed here are not affected by in any way. * To achieve this level, either the Warlord Retort or the spell must be in play. ** To achieve this level, both Warlord and must be in play simultaneously. Average Damage Output The table below details the average amount of "raw" that each in a Barbarian Cavalry unit will deliver with each type of attack, based on . It can be used in comparison to the target's Defense rating to approximate the chance of hurting that target. Acquisition Barbarian Cavalry may be recruited in Barbarian Towns that have both a Barracks and a Stables already built, and have a Construction Cost of . They may also appear as Mercenaries, provided that the player has a presence on Arcanus. In this case, they cost between to to hire per unit, based on their - or half that much for Charismatic Wizards. Category:Units Category:Normal Units Category:Barbarians Category:Cavalry